EP 7 | Mastering Emotional Release with The Sedona Method

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Welcome to the Jack Hempfield Podcast. Today we'll be talking with Hale Dwoskin. Hale's a leading personal development expert. He's an author, a teacher, is best known for his work with the Sedona Method. And Hale has dedicated his life to helping individuals achieve greater inner peace, well being and success by teaching them how to release and let go of their emotional baggage and and their limiting beliefs. And Hale has written a book called the Sedona Method, your key to lasting happiness, success, peace and emotional well being. Who wouldn't want all that? He's also created digital resources that teach you the Sedona Method, and there are many courses that Hale teaches as well. He also wrote the book happiness is free and it's easier than you think. In today's conversation, we'll explore the principles behind the Sedona Method, the benefits of releasing negative emotions, and some practical tips for incorporating this powerful technique into your daily life and whatever else comes up as well. So join us as we delve into the transformative world of the Sedona Method, discussing Hales insights on emotional release, personal growth, and the tools he has developed to help people live more fulfilling and abundant lives. Welcome to the podcast, Hale.

Oh, thanks for having me.

It's a pleasure. It's been way too long since we've talked.

I know we said we'd talk sooner, but it didn't happen.

I know, I know it will. We both got busy, I guess, which is good. We're all, they're helping the world. So anyway, I'm really excited to be here with you today and I'd like to start by let's just having you share what exactly is the Sedona Method and how you became involved in teaching and promoting it. And then we can kind of get more granular. We can.

The Sedona Method is a technique or tool that shows you how to tap natural ability that we all have. And that's the ability to let go of any unwanted thought, feeling, emotion, belief, concept, anything that appears to be standing in your way to having, being, doing, or whatever it is you will or desire. And it's also a tool for helping you to discover that you are not bound in any way and that what truly is, is boundlessness, is freedom, is wholeness, is beingness. So it shows you both how to recognize your true nature and how to eliminate the. The apparent inner obstacles to whatever it is you want in life. And I got involved in it because I've been a seeker since I was a teenager and at age 22, I met my mentor, Lester Levinson, and he came to a seminar I organized for a man named Leonidor.

Oh, I remember Leonard, or Prosperity Consciousness.

And when it invited him as a guest, I don't know how he found out about Lester. And he was, he was, he was always very unassuming and so I didn't even notice him in the seminar. But Leonard and I and the other organizer went out to lunch with Lester. And just sitting across the table from him, there was something just different about him. There was a sense of peace and equanimity and love that it just felt like it was pouring off of him and had nothing to do with what he said. He said, you sit around the table and release. And this is back in 1976. I had no idea what he's talking about. I had visions of beating pillows, which has nothing to do with what we do.

We all, we all did that back then.

Yeah, that primal scream stuff.

Yeah, I know.

Poor pillows. But what I also learned is that he has this amazing story is that back in 1952, he was sent home to die from a second coronary. Rather than just give up, he decided to go back to the lab within himself. And he stumbled up in the process. He stumbled upon the essence of what we now teach as the Sedona Method. And. And his body healed and he lived in peace and equanimity another 42 years after doctors had given him weeks to live. And that got my attention. And it was a combination of the story and also just how it felt being around him that made me get want to be involved. And so I took the course. Actually, this was the very next weekend and before the course was even open over, I had this profound knowing that this is what I was going to dedicate my life to. That was almost 45 years ago and still going strong.

Indeed. Indeed you are. So let's talk a little bit about exactly what is the Sedona Method. How does it work?

Well, it's a series of tools or questions you can ask yourself that show you how to just open inside. And in that opening there's a letting go. And you don't just let go of the thought or feeling of the moment, but you can also let go of long held beliefs, attitudes, traumas, memories. I mean, it doesn't really matter what it is. If it's some baggage you're carrying around from the past, you can let it go. And to give you a better idea what I mean by letting go, pick up a pen or a pencil of some object you'd be willing to drop to the floor or your desk or wherever you are. And if you're listening to this in a car, don't do this. Just imagine it. So now take the object and grip it really tightly with your hand. Now, if you did this long enough, it would start to feel really uncomfortable, but also really familiar because this is what we do all the time with our emotions without realizing it. That's enough gripping. Roll the object around in your hand. Is. Is the object attached to your hand? Obviously not. It's an object that's in your hand. And so our emotions and our thoughts and feelings, beliefs, everything we think we know about ourselves are as attached to us as this object is attached to your hand. So now close your hand lightly around the object, turn your hand upside down, and just drop it. Just let it go. That's how easy it can be to let go of anything that you've been carrying from the past. And it's hard to believe that, as you know, years ago, I was in one of your Breakthroughs to Success seminar, and you gave me permission to share the video of my presentation. And we. We sent it out for years to people, and the only thing we covered was just the very basic, basic questions, which I know you share, still share it when you're working with people in a lot of your seminars, et cetera. But just that basic part of the Sedona method, people were losing fears and phobias, and all sorts of amazing things were happening from that. And at the seminar itself, do you remember the woman who got up and danced on stage with me? The one who. With ms?

Yeah, the one who was basically. They couldn't walk.

Yeah, she couldn't walk. And again, after just a few hours of us doing the. The basic part of releasing, she was danced. Came up and danced with me on stage, and I was out of breath. I was having a hard time keeping up with her. It's just a simple way of accessing a natural ability that we all have. Young children do this naturally. If you've ever been around a young child who fell down and then look around, you've probably seen that they sometimes look around to see if they need to be upset if they didn't catch anyone's eye. No upset. They got up, they let it go. Catch someone's eye. Oh, mommy, daddy, kiss it. And one kiss within. Within less than a minute, they're fine again. So what happens is, as we mature into adulthood, we lose touch with this natural ability. And once we are reacquainted with it, The. The. The Sedona method is actually designed so that over time, you no longer need the questions. You just naturally, wherever you are in life, you're with the flow, you're open, you're alert, you're alive. And anything that disturbs you isn't sticking to anything. It just leaves. It just passes through, becomes a way that life just simply unfolds. But in the beginning, it requires practice. And for most of us, it requires practice over years before it becomes second nature. But even from the very beginning, it becomes easier and easier to do so that it requires less thought. It just becomes reflexive.

So let's talk about the practice that you need to do, perhaps for years until it becomes reflexive. Can you share? I mean, you talked about the four basic questions. I remember literally when I first learned this from you, I was over in Liverpool in England at a. The place where the Beatles used to sing in the basement. And there was a conference going on, on accelerated learning. There was a woman named Veronica DeAndre. It's amazing woman from. Was it Chile? I think. And. And she was plugged into something. I can't remember what it was. And I said, would you like to get rid of that? Release it? And she said, what do you mean? And I said, well, there's a really simple process. I'll take you through it if you want. So we just went through the questions that I hope you're going to share in a second. And within, like, you know, two rounds of that, she was like, wait, it's gone. It was like a miracle. And that's what's so interesting about it, that sometimes very, very quickly, the first time I was with you, I think, was up in Gay Hendricks's house in Ojai.

Yes, yes.

So you were doing a little guest event kind of a thing on a Saturday, I think it was. And. And I was sitting there and I had terrible pain in the back of my neck. And you were just taking us through the questions, you know, could you let it go? Would you know? And I remember just thinking, yeah, you're right. And then all of a sudden, my neck didn't hurt. I was like, what? This has been hurting for months. So it literally can be that fast. And I will share one other story with you before, because I want people to get how powerful and valuable this is. My son Christopher, who you actually met, um, when he was about 16, I think I gave. It was Christmas, and I gave him two Christmas presents. One was a Cody wanted. He's a real clothes horse. So I gave him this Jacket. And then I said, the next present I'm going to give you, I want you to come out to my office. And I taught him the Sedona method. And we looked at, he had this anxiety about tests coming up after the vacation. And, you know, about a week later, he said, dad, you know those presents you gave me? That one where he taught me how to release all my anxiety and fear? That was worth 20 times to coat, you know. And for my son to say that was pretty miraculous. So that's a tool he still uses to this day.

That's great. That's great. So, yeah, why don't we take everyone through it right now and we can continue discussing it and see where the conversation goes. But I really love to share something that people can continue to use the way your son has in many, actually hundreds of thousands all over the world still do. So the questions we're going to use are very simple. The first thing is I'll invite you to just think of anything in your life that you're wanting to change or improve. And then the next thing I'll do is just simply ask you if you could just welcome or allow whatever you feel about it. We work on a feeling level because that tends to resolve quickly the thoughts and the beliefs and everything else attached to it. And then I'll ask the three main questions. The first question is, could you let it go? And could you. Just means, are you capable of it? And if you're able to drop that pen a moment ago or you could even imagine it, or you've ever let go of any object in your life, then I know you can let go of the this. Because there's a confusion that in our language, even when we say I feel, we don't usually say, I feel angry. We say, I am angry. I am the anger. And so we actually believe we are our emotions, so we don't realize that they're not attached to us and we can let them go. And just that recognition in and of itself can be liberating. So the first question is, could you let it go? And I know you can. And the next question is, would you? And would you? Just means are you willing to. And if you, when you're doing this on your own, if you're not sure, ask yourself, would I rather have this pain or suffering or problem, or would I rather be free and have my goals? It's usually easy response to that. And the last question is when? And when is just an invitation to decide to do it now. So you might find there's some letting go on, could you. You might find there's some letting go on, would you? And you might even find there's some letting go on when. Or you might save it up to when. And the only thing I recommend is you avoid overthinking this as best you can. You can't shut your mind up, don't even try, but try to leave with your feeling sense of your heart more than your head, and just do your best and just be open at least to the possibility that such simple questions can produce profound results, as Jack already mentioned. So let me just take us through a process. Jack, you don't need to respond. I'm just going to take everyone through it at the same time. So in this moment, could you just simply pause for a moment or stop. And just be what you are. Now? You might even feel something letting go, just doing that. And then allow yourself to think of something in your life that you're wanting to change or improve. It could be something with your body, something with your mind, something with health, wealth, relationships, it doesn't really matter what it is. And then whatever's come to mind, could you just welcome or allow whatever feeling it brings up inside of you. It could be a strong feeling, a light feeling, it doesn't matter. And then as best you can, just for now, could you let it go? Just could you just you. Which you. When. Now, you may feel some relief already, but let's go through that a couple more times. Focus on that same thing or anything else that you're wanting to change or improve. And could you just simply allow or welcome whatever that brings up inside, could you just let it be here? And then, as best you can, just for now, could you let it go? Just could you. Would you. When. And then focus on that again just one more time? And could you just allow or welcome whatever's being felt as best you can? And then as best you can, just for now, could you let that go? Just could you. Would you. When? Okay, good. So if you were doing this on your own, you would keep asking those same questions as long as you'd like until you got the relief that you wanted. That was just a few minutes. And if, if you were able to just be present with what we were going through as best you can, you probably already are noticing at least some difference. And again, it gets easier and more profound over time.

You know, it's interesting when, when I was doing that with you and so one of the things I've been working with is losing weight. They've said during the pandemic that three things you could become one of three things. When you were sequestered away, it was either a hunk, a drunk, or a chunk, meaning you worked out a lot or because you had all this extra time where you drank too much because you were feeling isolated and alone, or you ate too much because you weren't exercising or sitting in front of your computer. I was the latter one. Doing podcasts and working with clients and online courses and all that stuff. And it'll keep the company going. And so when I first started, the sense I had was like. It came up was this feeling of my. A sense of like, you can't tell me what to do, right? Like someone's trying to tell me, I can't eat that. Wait a second. And then the next round, I felt this pressure on my shoulders, like someone was pushing me down, like, you know, repressing my self. And then the third round, it turned into this energy around my stomach. And I know from intellectual, you know, study that that that fat around the stomach is often protecting power. You know, it's like it's sitting on top of your power. So I thought, there's a couple more layers I want to do with this, you know, that I will now that I'm doing this with you. But it was like, wow, they had some insights on this that, you know, were. Were amazing. And just like, you know, I don't know, two minutes or something. What you did that thing. So thank you for that. And also just to. I. I do this a lot, but I don't do it all the time. And it's nice to be reminded, so thank you.

Oh, you're welcome, Jack. Totally my pleasure.

So I'm. I'm curious. I know that when I first took your course, there were some. I don't know if you want to call them, some common emotional patterns or beliefs that people struggle with that, you know, that create us. Being stuck. Yes. Can you speak to that?

Oh, sure, sure. There is a. It's not really a hierarchy because it. It's. It's just a scale of energy and action we can use to explain emotion. And emotion is just. First of all, it's just energy, emotion. It's not good right or wrong, or good or bad. It's just what is. But certain emotions affect the body, mind in certain ways. And there's a scale of nine emotional levels. I'll say them quickly and then I'll explain them. The lowest energy is apathy, and a little higher energy is grief. And a little higher energy is Fear. A little higher energy is lust. Higher energy than that is anger. Even higher is pride. And then there's a quantum leap at pride to courageousness. Courageousness is. There's a lot more energy than in pride. It's really. It's quantum weave. And then even more energy, but more at rest is acceptance. And the most energy is actually in peace. Because there are no boundaries in that. It is all energy. And if you turn if what's closest to the surface for most of us is the apathy, grief, fear, lust, anger and pride. It's covering over our courageousness, acceptance and peace. And as you let go, several things tend to happen. Your thoughts become more and more positive. Naturally, without effort. You don't have to try to affirm positive belief, it just happens. The second thing that happens is you naturally start uncovering that the courageousness, acceptance and peace, that's always at our core. You don't have to try to make yourself courageous. There are so many courageous things. Even the most beaten down of us do every day, sometimes just continuing to live despite adversity. So the courageous is always there, but it's usually covered over by the apathy, grief, fear, lust, anger and pride. And you'll find that as you let go, those energies dissipate and. And again. And I'll explain just a little bit more about each energy and apathy. You feel like you're the victim of the world and you feel like you don't have the energy to accomplish anything. Now, for most of us, we don't feel that way about everything, but we might feel that way about some things like losing weight, like, oh, do I have to even deal with that? We could feel, you know, kind of hopeless about it even. And then a little higher energy than that is grief. And grief is a feeling of, I don't think I can do anything about it, but maybe someone else can, Please help me. And believe it or not, there's more energy in grief than in apathy. Apathy is just dense. And then in fear, there's a little more energy, but it's skittish. It's like putting water on a hot pan. There's a vibration and it's constantly focusing on negative consequence and assuming it's going to happen, expecting it to happen. And then a little higher energy is lust. And lust is the first energy that we all experience that most of us think is good and we strive for in some ways, although it's with conflict, when we feel lust, it's a feeling of, I want it, but I shouldn't I want it, but I can't. I want it, but it's not going to be possible. So there's a hold back in lust. And we don't fully enjoy what we have because we're still wanting it. And then in anger, there's a wanting to strike out. And anger is the first energy where we actually might strike out. But unfortunately, anger is more destructive than constructive. But it can feel like a very useful step because at least if I'm angry about it, maybe I'll do something about it. Yes, that's true. Yet often it has negative consequences. And often that's the highest we'll let ourselves go is to getting to anger. But anger is still limited, even though it can feel better and then above that, more energy. But often stuck is pride. It's the feeling of I did it, but I'm not sure I can do it again, or I did it, I want everyone to know I did it, how special I am. Instead of just living life, you're going around bragging about what you accomplished, and that also gets in the way. And then as you keep letting go, you don't necessarily go in a straight line progression throughout the day. You'll have various emotions, but you'll find as a resting place place, your energetic resting place moves deeper and deeper and deeper, or it expands more and more until your energetic resting place can be in courageousness, acceptance and peace. And you can release those emotions as well, because as long as there's any sense that I'm feeling it, it's my emotion, then there's still a holdback because there's you and unlimited, boundless energy that always. And as that dissolves, then there's just life living itself boundlessly, joyously, and, and there's this inner sense of wholeness and calmness and that all is well.

So when you're in what I would call a state of awareness, you know, you're you, you are awareness, in a sense. And then there's. But there's also action that. That's required.

Yes.

To live in life. And how do you talk about that? Just a little bit like, you know, okay, so we, we release now. We're in this state of acceptance and, and peace and courage, courageousness, as you said. And then. So what does that look like in, in, you know, if you're observing yourself or someone else in that state. What, what is that? How does that unfold in a day? Because obviously we have to do things. We get downloads, of course, messages. We have to go out and, you know, cook our meals. And so forth.

Well, it's actually, it's actually very simple because the first off courageousness is a feeling of I can do it. So that if that becomes courageousness, acceptance and peace is your baseline. There's just this positive energy to accomplish whatever you want. You feel more and more encumbered, unencumbered, and you find that you naturally get into action in ways that might even surprise you with less thought. And as you keep doing this, this less of a sense of I'm acting, there's just action. You find you, you'll respond to things in highly appropriate and effective ways. And then afterwards you might not even be able to explain why you did it that way, why it happened that way. It's just what's happening spontaneously and naturally. The other problem is when usually if we're identified as a separate individual and we have these conflicting thoughts and feelings and beliefs and emotions, we're grinding the gears inside. There's holdbacks, there's second guessing, there's carrying around past disappointments or failures. But as that all drops away, there's just this openness in life and there's an appropriate response to whatever is apparently happening. And this appropriate response is just natural and easy. And it's not that there aren't challenges still. Of course there are. Life is, is. Is not a box of chocolates, even though they said that in a movie.

I remember Forrest Gump.

As far as compound. There's an interesting sidebar in that one of the years ago when the sense of self started falling away, not just I've been releasing since 1976, but when it started to accelerate. The first time it actually happened was 1977, but I won't get into that. But one of the profound times where this just disappearance happened of the sense of self, and there was just this exquisite living. A few days afterwards, I watched the movie Forrest Gump for the first time. And I remember watching the film. And in the very first scene of the film, there's this feather floating down. And I was the audience. I was the feather, I was the film. I was everything. That's how it felt. There was no barriers, no limitations. And so anyway, that's just a sidebar. But the, the. Basically life continues, but without the filters, without the considerations, without the holdbacks.

Yeah, I remember that. What's the famous Buddhist quote? Before enlightenment, chopping wood, carrying water. After enlightenment, chopping wood, carrying water.

Yes.

You're just, you're present to it in a way where it just is what it is. And there's all that Piece in, In the doing of it. I want to ask you this. Well, first of all to say that I think that a lot of, you know, I want to compare like Western to Eastern for a moment. You know, a lot of people think you have to go to an ashram and sit for 10 years in a lotus position to become what we call enlightened or to reach samadhi or to, you know, find that peace we're talking about. Most of us are never going to do that because we have families and jobs and the western culture we live in and so forth. But what I think is cool is that this is a method that if you apply it to what shows up in your life, you know, the, the. When the fear emerges, when you're feeling listless, when you're upset with somebody, you know, you notice you're. You're out of that place of peace or seeming peace, that you can just do it. And what happens, it brings you back into this state of presence, of awareness of peace, whatever you want to call it. And so it doesn't require us to go off and, you know, live in the woods somewhere and eat. Eat mung bean soup for the rest of the night. Right. Because I think, you know, and I'm curious, like, when you're, when you first start working with people and you're advising them. I know for me, I was working with your audio course after your live course that just, you know, putting in an hour a day or 15 minutes a day, at the end of the day, whatever, and just like, okay, so what are you feeling right now? What's up for you? Whatever. And then just doing the method. And then little by little by little, it just. Stuff started to fall away. I felt more inner peace. So, so talk about how you would advise people to, to lean into using the Sedona method in their life as a tool.

Sure. I just want to go back and just refer to something you said first. That one of the things that switches at a certain point is it's no longer just. It's no longer you being more aware, more present. That's what happens in the beginning and for long. For most of us, it's a profound shift to be lost in a story or a feeling or a belief, and then just realize that I'm not that. I'm what's aware of it. I'm present to it. I'm not that. But at a certain point, that can fall away too. And there is just life living. And that is a whole other level of just being present with what is and that is also something that happens naturally and spontaneously. And that is actually what's here now. It's covered over by even our sense of working on ourselves and our sense of being different than what actually is. So anyway, that's just aside and aside. What I recommend you do is approach this the way you would anything that is benefiting you. Do it as best you can, as often as you can. I don't recommend that you make it a new should or you or shouldn't. If you make it into a should, you'll probably resist it, you probably won't want to do it. But if you allow yourself to engage with this when you feel you need it and do your best as best you can, you find that you'll just gravitate to towards it. Because, hey, I remember yesterday I was really bummed and I let go and I felt better. I'm feeling really furious now. Maybe I can try it on this. Let's see. Do it as an experiment. Do it as an exploration as opposed to making it a have to or a must or should do. So that's the first thing. The second thing is be easy on yourself. Most of us expect to be perfect at something even when we're first learning it. And that's an unrealistic expectation. Yes, it became second nature to me over time, but I put in the time again. I've been doing this since 1976. So now it's, it's. It's rarely even a process. It's completely second. Nature. So if you forget, if you don't, if it sometimes feels difficult, just be persistent. And just know that anytime you release on anything, maybe the last time you ever need to, because it may be gone forever. Second, know that it's going to take as long as it does to reach that point. And just be easy on yourself until you reach the point where it's no longer an issue. And what may happen is you go through a progression in any particular situation, Say you're struggling with making more money, maybe you're doing sales and you realize sometimes you remember to release while you're doing the sales pitch. But sometimes you forget. And those times you forget, you can release afterwards. And then you'll find yourself more and more able to release while you're making a pitch pitch and you're starting to cramp up. And then you can get to a point where it just happens spontaneously. And then you'll get to a point where you don't even need to release because even cold sails can become comfortable, can become natural. And so just let it be a natural out unfolding in your life. You don't have to force yourself to eat the food you love. You don't have to force yourself to breathe. There are certain things that are natural and releasing or letting go or the Sedona method can become one of those things that's just natural for you.

I think one of the issues though, I want to just kind of bat this back and forth with you for a minute is remembering that you have the tool. It's like I think for me, you know, recently I read something somewhere and was saying, you know, just put little three by, you know those little two by three inch post. Its the other one.

Yes, yes.

Just put a couple around on the wall in the bathroom mirror, you know, wherever and whenever you walk by, just ask yourself what am I thinking right now? And it was a way of just like developing my awareness of what my internal thoughts and dialogue were. And so for me it was a helpful tool just to kind of bring myself back to being in present, if you will. And I think if I, if I don't remember this thing, the Sedona method exists, then I'm not likely to use it. So I'm just wondering for me, I think what I would do is probably like maybe put right Sedona method on some 3 by 5 cars right in my bathroom mirror or whatever. I come in and I'm all upset and I say oh, Zona method. So until it becomes something I know that's there, just like I know there's an apple in the refrigerator. Like you said, I don't have to be convinced that I want to go eat my favorite fruit. I want to do that. But at some point in my life I have to eat the apple to know I like it.

Right? Right.

And if I don't be exposed to it enough, I forget that it exists. What do you think about that?

Oh, I think it's great. We used to re recommend exactly the same thing. Little post it notes that we've been doing that for 40 years. But, but the other, the other thing you can do is you could put little reminders in your phone if or in your schedule. You can again, this is so powerful, especially as you perfect your use of it again. We only went through the baby steps of releasing. There are actually five ways of letting go. We just covered the first and we can talk a little bit more about that in a second. But what you can do is schedule two minute releasing breaks. And if it's right on your schedule and you don't have anything else set for. Then you could just spend those two minutes releasing and believe it or not, just two minutes. You can get to the point where two minutes feels like you just meditated for an hour. And. And so that's another way to do it. And the other thing it's is it's very helpful to have other touchstones like maybe get involved in the release. We have a community on Facebook and around around our website and people actually release with each other. They ask each other the releasing questions. They have each other as releasing partners and that's very helpful. There are literally thousands of people over the world who know that they can call each other or there's Even groups on WhatsApp where people can reach out to each other and ask themselves, each other the releasing questions as a reminder, as a support. And so just find ways to support yourself by staying engaged with the community.

That's very cool. I love that. I think community is so important. So important. Let me ask you this and then we can talk maybe about another one of the methods. I know you have many that you teach for me. When we first started, when I first started learning this from you, sometimes you would just say, close your eyes, scan your body, listen to sounds from the universe. No, you'd say close your body, close your eyes and then scan your body and just notice what stands out. And I would say, well, I've got this band of tension across my shoulders. I had no idea where it was coming from or what it was about. Then you would say, you know, can you welcome that as best you can? You know, could you let that go? Would you win? And because I think sometimes just tuning in and not knowing even what's going on, just starting there for me is. Excuse me, is really powerful. Can you speak to that?

Oh, yes, yes, there. Well, the two things about that, it's perfect. It's a lead in to describing the other ways of letting go. But you don't have to know why you have a problem or why you have an emotion to let it go. And so one of the things you can do instead of I asked everyone when we were doing it together, think of something you'd like to change or improve. But I could have as easily said, just scan your body, mind and see if there's a place that feels contracted or there's some holding on. And could you just welcome or allow that now and then follow on with the other questions. But the. Let me talk a little bit about the five ways of letting go. So the first way we already Discussed, which is just deciding to drop it. This. And it looks a little like, like this. You have an object and you just open and it drops. Next way of letting go is welcoming it, allowing it, being present with it. We don't realize how much we're resisting whatever the contents of consciousness is. Moment to moment, we're saying we're like the two, we're still two year olds, we're saying no to everything inside. To varying degrees. There's an inner sense of resistance. And so if you just welcome or allow whatever is being experienced, that too can provide a profound sense of letting go. And it's also a way you can release an action without thinking about it. You just do this inside. You just open and stay open. There's just a sense of allowing or welcoming life as it's unfolding. And so that's the second way of letting go. The third way of letting go is diving into the core of it. And this one does require you taking time out to do. I don't recommend it doing, doing this, operating heavy equipment. And it's also the. All the tools that we teach can be done with eyes open or eyes closed. But this one, diving into the core of an emotion is something that works best with eyes closed. And what you do is you just simply probe the emotion and at first, and you either sit back into it or you dive into it, or you just ask yourself what's deeper than that, what's beyond that? And at first it may intensify slightly. You've been. Most of us tread water, we don't want to feel especially unpleasant emotions. But as you keep diving into the emotions, you pop through it. It's like poking through a bubble. Because our limitation is like, it has as much substance as a soap bubble. And if you touch a soap bubble, it pops. You might get sprayed with a little soap, but so what? But what's left is emptiness, space, love, beingness. And so if you dive into the core of any emotion, that's what's discovered.

Let me, let me speak to that for just a moment. Because when I, when you first taught me that, I remember my wife Inga, as you know, is a surfer. And so I, and I've gone body surfing with her and stuff. And when the waves are coming in, you have to dive under the wave, you know, to get past it so it doesn't take you into shore. And I use that metaphor when I do it. And it's just like I hear, I'm angry or I'm scared or whatever. And it's Just like, so intense and. And then I just imagine, here it comes, this big wave coming at me. I'm just going to dive into it and I get underneath it and all of a sudden I'm in that space you talk about. It's almost like, really? It was that simple?

Yes. That's a great analogy. Thanks, Jack. And then the last way, the fourth way of letting go, we call holistic releasing. And we live in a world of duality. If you have in, you also have out, right, wrong here, there. And the biggest duality and the one that creates the most limitation is I'm here, and everything else is there, but that's artificial. And what happens is we. We tend to the part of the thing we like, we tend to hold close. And the part we don't like, we tend to push away. And so when you welcome both sides of any polarity, they dissolve. For instance, if you're feeling tense, you welcome any feeling of tension. And then you welcome relaxation as best you can. And you just go back and forth between the two. And pretty soon the relaxation is washed away, the tension. It's hard to explain why it works, but it does. And it's. Well, one explanation, because people love those, is it's like bringing positive and negative charge together, they cancel each other out, or antimatter and matter cancel each other out. So when you welcome two sides of any polarity, it just dissolves. And the. The fifth way of releasing is where I concentrate most of my attention now, because the. Mostly I lead. There are two types of courses I lead. I lead our phone seminars, which I do about three times a year, and then I do retreats about four times a year. The other seminars are led by other people. And then there's the Sedona method book and our audio programs and video programs, but those are already in the can. So the fifth way is just discovering that. That sense that there's a me here and a you. There is an illusion. There actually is no true separation. It's. It's. It's not even smoke and mirrors. It's just an appearance or an illusion. And there are many questions that we've developed over the years that help you see through that illusion right in the moment. And then there's this experiencing of boundlessness. And then what also can happen is even that drops away and there's just boundlessness. There's not even a you experiencing it. There is just this, which. Whatever's happening. So those are the five ways of letting go that we explain and explore in our programs. And in the, the book and everything else.

I love it when you said there's just this. That sounds like a tract written by a guru in India, you know, And I love it because it is. When you get down to the core essence of things, it's that simple. You know, I've been reading a lot of books about near death experiences recently and, and when people die and go through the tunnel, if they do that and they get to the other side, what they call heaven, and, and then they're there. And then they realize there is no duality. Everything is connected. It's all one. They're God. God's them. You know, God isn't a being. God's a state of being, et cetera, you know, and, and it's, it's just, it's so simple at some level. And the other one that gets me, I still haven't, I haven't reached the place you probably have of where you realize all time is an illusion as well. That the past, present, the future are all simultaneously happening, being, whatever you want to call it.

Well, it's just that time. There is of course, functional time. That's how we knew we were going to be together at this time and have this conversation. But most of us live in emotional time. An emotional time only exists in the story of me. It doesn't exist anywhere else. We think it's real, but it isn't. And when that sense of emotional, as that sense of emotional time drops away, so does the sense of struggle and baggage and separation. So the two are connected. And place is also an illusion. The sense of space, there is just everything that it doesn't have a specific location. It is just this, which is really everywhere and nowhere. And words really fail when you try to describe it. Both of everything I've just said about time and space not truly existing doesn't really translate into words. Words are all about duality.

Yeah.

They can't be about anything else because again, language are just symbols representing concepts about that which was or might be. There is no language to describe that which actually is.

And with that, we all shut up and stop talking.

And there's also a lot of laughter then too, which is another way everyone naturally releases when they're spontaneous laughter.

I know, I know, I know. One of the things I miss, when you were teaching at our Breakthrough to Success seminar, sometimes you, you would just start laughing. It would go on like for two minutes, Right?

I know. And then all of us started laughing together. And it felt, it felt wonderful.

Yeah, exactly. So let's. You have a website, Sedona.com. yes, people go there. And you meant just, you know, tell people what's there. You mentioned you have courses and retreats.

Yes, yes, I lead Zoom retreats and hybrid retreats where. Where I show up in person at a location and then everybody else participates through Zoom at home. And I do that four times a year. I also do phone courses. The last one I did was on just releasing an action. The one before that was on Money. And Those are just 12 session hour long phone courses. And then most people learn the Sedona Method either from the Sedona Method book or from one of our audio programs. And you can find about out about all of that@sedona.com and there's. We also have a YouTube channel called the Sedona Method, and there are hundreds of videos that take you through the experience and explain it. Then there's also our Facebook page, the. The Sedona Method Facebook page where there are quotes from me and my mentor, Lester Levinson, and there are also videos there. And the best place to start. Oh, and I also have a website, I have a podcast too, which is letting go on the Greatest Secret. Which you were on.

Yes, it was.

But anyway, the easiest place to find out about all of that is Sedona.com and it's just like the city. S-E--O-N-A dot com.

Very good, very good. Well, anyway, thank you. This has been fun. It's reminding me of good times we've had together. It's reminding me I need to do this more often. And. And it reminds me I'm going to go in and complete my little process I started with you around my eating and so thank you. Appreciate it.

Oh, thank you. It's. It's always lovely to see you.

Well, I. It is, it is. We'll have to do this more often. Not wait for another podcast.

Yes, let's do that.

All right. And. And thanks to all of you for joining us today and be sure to join us next time where I'll be in conversation with another author, an expert, a thought leader, talking about how you can live a happier, more fulfilling, more successful, more peaceful, more joyful life. Until then, take good care of yourself and the people you love.